The two-day gathering in Leicester was informed by specialists in Mars geology, and engineers whose chief concern was identifying a location that minimised the risks of landing.

Getting down safely to the surface of the Red Planet is notoriously difficult. More than half of all missions that have tried have failed.

The most recent European effort in 2016, for example, crashed into the ground at over 300km/h.

The LSSWG had been discussing landing options for something like five years, pulling in comments from the wider community.

But this week’s meeting came down to a straight fight between Oxia and a place just to the north called Mawrth Vallis.

Both “finalists” hold promise for finding the traces of long-ago microbial activity. However, after hearing all the submissions – the working group has decided Oxia represents the best combination of compelling science and engineering caution.

Image copyrightESA

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Artwork: The ExoMars rover will search for signs of life

Oxia lies about 18 degrees north of the equator, ensuring ExoMars’ solar panels will get good exposure to sunlight all year round.

But it is the potential of what could lie under the rover’s six wheels that most excites researchers.

Observations from orbit suggest the surface materials at this location contain abundant clays – the type of sediments that will result from rock-weathering processes involving water.

Investigations by the American robot Curiosity at another site halfway around the planet have already found fine-grained, clay-bearing mudstones that were laid down in a lake setting.

Researchers see evidence for lakes at Oxia, too – and rivers and deltas. And with ExoMars’ specific life-detecting technologies, it might just be possible to find the traces of biological activity in the sediments.

Image copyright James Tuttle Keane (Caltech) The InSight mission, launched today from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base, is now on a six-month cruise to Mars. It is expected to arrive in November, but what will it find? Mars may appear to be getting crowded, thanks to its growing robotic population, so why send another lander? […]

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